Danbury High student writes winning words about Obama

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT), Eileen FitzGerald Staff Writer

Published 1:00 am, Friday, April 10, 2009

"Barack Obama's cries of 'Yes We Can' and 'Change has come to America' still echo in the minds of the world, sending powerful messages that are appreciated by people living in the U.S. and those abroad."

Those are the words written by
Danbury High School
junior Bryan Sih in an essay about what Obama means to the country and to him.

Sih's writing earned him recognition in a recent statewide essay contest, a nice tribute to the local student and his school.

"Prior to Obama's election, America was on dire terms with its fellow nations. America was provoking. America was interfering. America was arrogant," Sih wrote.

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"As Barack began his quest for office, a flicker of hope for America spread across skeptical nations. The inauguration gave America a new face, and therefore a new reputation. This face was one of peace, compromise and change. The wrinkles of violence, snobbery, and power disappeared, leaving a younger and improved America," Sih continued.

The essay was selected among the best in the essay contest Connecticut Secretary of State
Susan Bysiewicz
ran for Black History Month. She'll deliver a $100 savings bond to Sih at his school this month.

Sih said he wrote the essay for extra credit for his advanced placement history class with teacher
Michele Tooker
, but he felt the contest's theme, after all the years of racism in the country, was a good one to write about.

"It's a beautiful thing to see that all that hard work and all the struggle manifested itself in one man," Sih said Thursday.

Obama's election also has Sih wondering when the United States might elect an Asian, like him, to be president.

In the essay, he also writes that "There is no doubt that Obama's job will be difficult, but it is a test for the history books. Obama has had his share of tests, the major one being his race.

"Almost 50 years ago, segregation was leaving blacks in the darkness with inequality, but the light has become bright," the essay went on. "Not only have African-Americans gained equality, they have produced a president amongst their race.

"Obama's impact goes beyond the branches of politics, war, and the economy," he observed. "He instead shoots to the roots and principles on which America was originally founded, namely equality and opportunity."

He continued, "Obama has reinvigorated the American spirit and proved that we are not a divided nation, black and white, Republican and Democrat.

"Obama has established that we are people with principles and ideas that are parallel to the earliest Americans, at a time when political parties did not exist, and that we have become much improved as racism has virtually disappeared," he wrote. "The positive change that America has achieved over its lifetime accumulates itself into the first African-American president, Barack Obama."

In conclusion, Sih wrote, "All in all, Obama is a glowing hope for America, a capable leader ready for change, and the essence of the American spirit."